Building Character: Going on to Perfection

Belief in Jesus is important. But is Christianity mainly about how you feel about your relationship with Jesus like some seem to teach?

Going on to Perfection

You need to believe, repent, and be baptized in Jesus' name to get the Spirit of Christ. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are not a Christian:

Jesus kept the commandments and was perfected--and those who wish to be saved need to obey Him!

Accepting Jesus and keeping God's commandments are part of the elementary principles of Christ.

While we are not perfect in this life (cf. 1 John 1:10), we are to strive for perfection.

The Apostle Paul taught that he was striving towards perfection as he had not yet attained it:

Part of the purpose of the ministry is to help Christians become perfect. Notice some of what the Apostle Paul's wrote to the Ephesians:

The Berean Literal Bible, Literal Standard Version, and the Douay-Rheims Bible also use the term "perfecting" for verse 12:

These passages help demonstrate that perfection takes time, teaching, and effort.

Christians have to endure, be steadfast, and consider our trials--not spend our time complaining or thinking that the trials we face have no purpose.

Be careful about the company you keep, and this include entertainment in this age.

Faith Without Works is Dead

Some who profess Christ think that they have faith and that they do not need to obey God, build character, or truly strive for perfection.

The Apostle James apparently ran into that argument. People who claimed to have the faith to believe, but who did not have the appropriate behaviour/works to back it up.

People who will not obey really do not believe. They really do not have proper faith, despite statements to the contrary. And if each of us had perfect faith, including those of us who strive to obey, we would never disobey.

God's Law is Perfect

No only is the law of God perfect, hence should be considered a major aspect of us striving to keep it as we strive for perfection. The law of God is involved in conversion.

Converting the soul is a way of saying that if you practice God's laws as you should you will change for the better and strive to stop sinning. You will be getting closer to perfection.

James said that this was the perfect law of liberty, the royal law was to love one's neighbor, and this was a reference to God's commandments.

The Protestant reformer Martin Luther referred to James' writing as an "epistle of straw" (Luther, M. Preface to the New Testament, 1546)

In April 2014, I caught a couple of minutes of a Protestant minister (did not catch his name) on television explaining the following passages:

At first, I thought he was actually going to tell his followers to keep God's law. Instead, he ended up saying that Jesus fulfilled the law when He was killed therefore, he basically taught that Jesus came to destroy the law of God.

Sadly, it seemed like his followers were accepting his explanation--despite it being contrary to the rest of the Bible.

Perhaps I should also add that this is another area where lack of knowledge about church history is hurting many, especially Protestant leaders. Other than certain recognized apostates and heretics such as Simon Magus, Marcion, Gnostic leaders, and their followers, those known to have professed Christ in the first and second centuries A.D. believed that the law, at least the Ten Commandments (see The Ten Commandments and the Early Church and/or our free online book: The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast) was still in effect. Those people understood koine Greek (the dialect of Greek spoken during the time the New Testament was written) better than later Protestant scholars who often have tried to reason around what Jesus actually taught--as they do also to support traditions that are contrary to the Bible (see the free online book: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism).

Jesus did not teach that He was about to do away with the Ten Commandment law. He denounced those that would teach otherwise.

Furthermore, notice what Jesus says that He will say to various ones who claimed to follow Him:

Those who practice lawlessness are obviously not going on to perfection. Lawlessness is sin:

Well, when Jesus judges in righteousness, will that not be based upon the laws of God and the word of God?

Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the 'faith chapter' of the Bible. Notice something from it:

Notice that righteousness is something that the faithful worked. And thus, out of their weaknesses were made strong.

Some have been deceived that they do not need to keep God's commandments. And apparently that was a problem with some heretical apostates around the time of the Apostle John who wrote:

This was also the position of early Christians such as Polycarp of Smyrna who wrote:

So, Polycarp, who knew some of the original apostles taught you had to walk in, which means strive to keep, the commandments to be part of the first resurrection. People who teach otherwise do not understand the New Testament or how early Christians (whose native language is what the New Testament was written in) who knew the apostles believed.

Living righteously, keeping the commandments, and striving for perfection is something that Christians realized was important from the beginning. That was part of the sacred scriptures that the Christians were well versed in.

Developing Character

We are God's workmanship and were created to be engaged in good works. God has good works (cf. Genesis 1:31). Walking in God's way helps build character.

While the Bible mentions that striving for perfection is important for Christians, it also indicates that such striving leads to the development of character.

Character includes reputation, but it is more than that. But let's first look at some scriptures related to reputation:

Character, while manifested in reputation, is real, whereas some reputations are not. Some appear real when they are not:

However, those who truly strive for perfection and not hypocrisy will, with God's help, build the type of genuine character that God wants His people to have.

In the early 2nd century, Ignatius of Antioch taught about love, character, and Christ living His life in Christians:

So, early Christians valued character and believed that they needed to demonstrate proper character.

Notice what the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, in the 20th century, related to character:

But how? ... such perfect character must be developed. It requires the free choice and decision of the separate entity in whom it is to be created. But, further, even then it must be instilled by and from the Holy God who, only, has such righteous character to endow.

Perfect, holy and righteous character is the ability in such separate entity to come to discern the true and right way from the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender to God and His perfect way - to yield to be conquered by God - to determine even against temptation or self-desire, to live and to do the right. And even then such holy character is the gift of God. It comes by yielding to God to instill His law (God’s right way of life) within the entity who so decides and wills.

Actually, this perfect character comes only from God, as instilled within the entity of His creation, upon voluntary acquiescence, even after severe trial and test...

God made us in His image, after His likeness (form and shape), only composed of matter instead of Spirit. But God says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). (Armstrong HW. The Incredible Human Potential, pp. 39-40, 52)

How Christ Was Made Perfect

Now grasp this: ". .. to make the CAPTAIN of their salvation. ..... Christ is the CAPTAIN of our salvation. Or, that may be translated also as the PIONEER, who has gone on ahead, before us, into this matchless GLORY. He already has inherited all things-the universe!

But notice further: "to make the captain of their salvation PERFECT"-HOW? How was even Christ made perfect?-"THROUGH SUFFERINGS"!

And notice, in verse 11: "… he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Christ, in GLORY, is not ashamed to call us-who have His Spirit-who rely on and obey Him -BRETHREN!

"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Heb. 5:8-9).

There it is again. Jesus is the author of our salvation-He wrote that salvation by His experience, and that was the first writing of it-He was the first human ever to achieve it-to be perfected, finished as a perfect character!

Jesus learned! He suffered! But out of it came perfection.

Do you see?

Do you begin to understand?

Satan did not upset God's Plan. All that has happened, God foreknew and permitted-for a purpose. Redemption is not a repairing of the damage-not a restoring to a condition "just as good" as Adam before the "fall." No, that was merely the beginning-the material creation. Redemption is the great spiritual creation. In it, God is creating in us something infinitely superior to Adam before he sinned.

Do you see now WHAT God is creating, in you and me?

He is creating something higher than angels or archangels. He is creating the supreme masterpiece of all God's creation. .. holy, perfect spiritual characters.

And what is character?

What Spiritual Righteous Character Is

Perfect character, such as God is creating in us, is a person finally made immortal, who is a separate entity from God; who, through independent free choice has come to know, and to choose, and to do, what is right. And that means to believe and know that what God instructs is what is RIGHT.

Inanimate rock will roll downhill by power of gravity. Water runs in its channels through creeks and rivers into oceans. Great planets, some many times larger than the earth, must travel in God's ordained course. These things are marvelous examples of the creative power of God. Yet these things are inanimate-they have no mind, no free choice, no character.

Dumb animals do not sin. They do not know enough to sin. They act by instinct, or according to training of others. They do not have this character.

Character is the possession and practice of love, patience, mercy, faith, kindness, gentleness, meekness, temperance, self-restraint, and right self-direction. Character involves knowledge, wisdom, purpose, ability, all properly controlled and developed, and through independent choice.

Holy, righteous character is something that is developed only through experience. Experience requires time, and circumstances. And so God creates time and God creates circumstances which produce character.

And so God first formed out of the dust-out of matter-the flesh-and-blood man, in the image of God (and "image" means form, or shape, not composition). And through seven thousand years of experience, God is taking the human family through a process, the results of which, even "as we have borne the image of the earthy [mortal Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" -Christ Jesus immortal, the "second" Adam-(I Cor. 15:49).

Yes, once fashioned, shaped, molded according to God's Purpose, even we shall be LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is (I John 3:1-2).

WHY All This Human Suffering?

There are just two broad principles of life-God's Way, or God's Law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, and Satan's way of competition, greed, vanity.

All suffering-all unhappiness, fear, misery, and death-has come from the transgression of God's Law. Living by that great Law of Love, then, is the only way to peace, happiness, and joy.

God placed man on this planet to learn that lesson -to learn it through generations of experience.

Yes, we, too, learn by suffering. God has revealed the true way-His revelation always has been available to man But man, given the right of free choice, always has turned his back on God, and God's true way. And even though man as a whole still refuses to see or learn the lesson, he has written this lesson indelibly in the history of human experience..

We learn through experience. And through suffering. This, then, is the very stuff of which character is made.

What We Shall Be Like

Once this godly CHARACTER is developed in us, what shall we be like in the resurrection?

Already, now, in this life, the truly converted Christian, having God's Holy Spirit dwelling within, being led by God's Spirit, is a SON of God. In prayer he calls God "Father."

Notice it in your Bible: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ." (I John 3:2).

What we shall be is not now apparent-does not now APPEAR-is not yet SEEN. Continue, "… but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall [then] see him as he is." Our appearance, then, will be like that of Christ now.

And what does Christ look like, now?

His appearance is described in Revelation 1:14-16: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.... and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."

Sinless Spirit Beings

But once actually born of God-entering into His Kingdom-His FAMILY-by the resurrection, we shall be composed of Spirit. We shall be like God, and like Christ now is, completely sinless. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (I John 3:9).

As Christ was born of God by His resurrection (Romans 1:3-4), so shall we be. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29).

At that time we shall be changed from mortal to immortal. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body..." (Phil. 3:20-21).

Do you begin to comprehend why you were born?

One religion believes that the end result of human life after countless rebirths is extinction of individual consciousness. How glorious is the TRUTH-promising the very opposite extreme! (Armstrong HW. Why Were You Born? Circa 1957)

Christians need to follow Christ and physical sufferings help us go toward perfection in this life so that we can be after the resurrection. Character to always do right--character to truly lead a life of love is why God created humans. God wants us to build character (Romans 5:4). Christians are not to sin, but live the way of love, the give way of life--God's way!

Building proper loving character is what God is doing with us--this is what your life is all about (see also the article What is the Meaning of Life? and/or watch the video titled What is the meaning of your life?).

Notice what else the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:

The human spirit of itself cannot see, hear, think or know. The only real LIFE, inherent and self-containing, lies in the Holy Spirit of God, united with the human spirit…At death, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). The spirit is the depository of memory and character. The spirit is like a mold. It retains even the human form and shape of the deceased, so that in the resurrection to judgment those who have died shall look as they did in life, retain whatever character they established in life, remember everything that was stored in their memory. But in the meantime, in death, there is no consciousness--they “know not any thing” (Eccl. 9:5) ...

We shall inherit the kingdom at Christ’s coming. The dead in Christ shall be resurrected, rising first--changed to Spirit immortality ... (Armstrong HW. Mystery of Ages, 1985, pp. 110, 127, 344-345)

We go through the tests and trials in life to build character for the resurrection. The Apostle Paul wrote:

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Thus, Christians basically should be pitied for the way they are supposed to live if there is no resurrection. But since there is, we have comforting hope.

Polycarp of Smyrna, wrote the following in the 2nd century, related to Paul, love, faith, and hope:

These things, brethren, I write to you concerning righteousness, not because I take anything upon myself, but because you have invited me to do so. For neither I, nor any other such one, can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorified Paul. He, when among you, accurately and stedfastly taught the word of truth in the presence of those who were then alive. And when absent from you, he wrote you a letter, which, if you carefully study, you will find to be the means of building you up in that faith which has been given you, and which, being followed by hope, and preceded by love towards God, and Christ, and our neighbour (Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians, chapter III).

Consider something else the Apostle Paul wrote:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

9 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

In other words, the Apostle Paul is teaching that living the Christian way of life is more than worth it.

Jesus promised to have a special place for each Christian and taught all would be rewarded according to their works, as did the Apostle Paul:

2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2, NAS)

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:24-27)

8...each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor (1 Corinthians 3:8)

The Apostle Paul called Satan the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4, KJV) or more properly, “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NKJV). Jesus called Satan “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). The world does not respect God’s laws, but goes the way of Satan.

Christians are to live a different way of life than the world.

The Bible also refers to this as “the Way” (Acts 24:14, 22) or “the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25).

It is also called “the way of truth” (2 Peter 2:2) and “the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:21).

Peter also wrote:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, (2 Peter 1:2)

17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18)

The Christian life is not static. We are to grow in grace and knowledge. Notice also:

14 Wise people store up knowledge, (Proverbs 10:14)

23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23)

15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:15-22)

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; (Colossians 1:9-11)

Such knowledge comes from the word of God and sermons, etc. (Romans 10:14-17).

Change is not easy.

It is often resisted.

Some act like they are like a type of a spiritual stick-in-the-mud. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not noted for their open-mindedness to change themselves either. Jesus came bringing light and truth (John 12:46; 14:26, etc.), but most of the world of that day rejected the light. Even those who thought that they were God’s people:

11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11).

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time were unable to accept the new understanding brought by Jesus from God the Father.

Jesus, in a sense, “rocked their boat.”

Jesus was a disturber of the status quo. And while you may think that the Pharisees and Sadducees should have changed—and they should have—what about you? It has been claimed that “academically, the Pharisees were unable to resist the wisdom with which Christ spoke” and that “emotionally they resisted it to the point of crucifying Him!.”

The spirit and attitude of the tradition-bound Pharisees lives on today in those professing Christians who resist change.

Do not be like them. A real Christian will change and submit to God:

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:7-10)

Christians are to be a NEW creation:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Hence, the Christian life MUST be a change from before. The change is to be positive and positively shape our future.

Because those called of God will strive to live according to His law, they will have tests and trials that will build a certain type of “character” (Romans 5:1-4, NJB/NKJV) (δομκιή; Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.).

This character could be considered a type of the “testimony of our conscience” (2 Corinthians 1:12, RNT) that God wants his children to possess.

Why Build Character and Strive for Perfection?

Why would God want Christians to build character to be like Him and to strive to be perfect like Him?

Because deification is part of the plan of God.

Jesus taught deification:

34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods" '? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:34-36).

And this was not only referring to His deification as He quoted from Psalm 82:6 which also is in the plural:

6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High..." (Psalm 82:6).

God wants godly offspring, and that is why God made humans male and female and created marriage, as the prophet Malachi was inspired to write:

14...she is your companion And your wife by covenant. 15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. (Malachi 2:14-15)

Paul also taught that we are God's offspring:

28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. (Acts 17:28-30)

Additionally about real Christians, the Apostle Paul specifically taught "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16)--we do and strive to have that more.

Paul wrote that Jesus was to be the firstborn of many brethren:

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

Some will exercise hard their physical bodies to try to resemble what they believe will be a better physical image of themselves. And while that is fine, it is godliness that needs to be developed:

7 But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

Many will endure hardships for physical rewards, but we need to endure and develop spiritual ones:

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Even the Apostle Paul did not think he could simply coast, because of his past service--neither should we.

Notice also the following:

12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. (2 Timothy 2:12)

10 And we shall reign on the earth (Revelation 5:10).

If we are to be like Him and reign with Him, then we need to endure and truly build character. God cannot have future rulers who cannot be trusted.

Yet, since He will be able to trust the resurrected saints, all will be fantastic in the future as it says in Revelation:

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:1-8)

God cannot have another future Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15), who turned away (Ezekiel 28:14-15).

As the Apostle Paul wrote (Galatians 2:20), we need to allow Christ to live His life in us. We need to go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1).

Ruling the Universe is Part of the Your Destiny

If you respond properly to God (either in this age, or if applicable, the age to come), then ruling the creation, the universe is part of your destiny. Notice:

21...the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:21-22)

As joint heirs with Christ, resurrected converted humans are to rule the universe :

2:5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:

"What is man that You are mindful of him,Or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels;You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet."

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying:

"I will declare Your name to My brethren;In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You."

13 And again:

"I will put My trust in Him."

And again:

"Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Hebrews 2:5-3:6)

Ruling the universe is part of the destiny that God has in store for the vast bulk of humanity.

Christians need to follow Christ and physical sufferings help us go toward perfection in this life so that we can be after the resurrection. Part of how this is done is by building character and striving for perfection.

But God is Eternal and Humans Began

Some who deny the doctrine of deification have pointed out that God is eternal and humans had a beginning.

And they are right that the Bible clearly teaches that God is eternal (e.g. Deuteronomy 33:27) and has existed eternally and that humans were created (Genesis 1:26-27) and thus humans had a beginning. So, there will always be certain differences between the Father and His children.

But that is not a legitimate argument against the doctrine of deification.

For example, while the differences differ, there will always be differences between a human father and his children. But the children will still be part of the family of the father and are still human as their father is human. Yet, the human father will always be older than his children and in other ways different from them.

Are We Finished?

Christians are to believe, obey, and build character as we strive towards perfection.

No. We must endure (e.g. Matthew 10:22). We must strive for perfection and allow God to build proper character within us.

Those who actually live as a Christian realize that the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days teach us that we are not yet complete.

The seven day week ends with the weekly Sabbath of rest which is a holy convocation (Leviticus 23:3). It is a time to rest (Exodus 20:8-11) and a time to learn the word of God (Acts 13:44).

Although God made days (cf. Genesis 1), most Greco-Roman-Protestants do not think that the 7th day or the biblical holy days really matter.

Yet, the New Testament shows that Christians are not to fall for slick arguments to the contrary:

The annual Passover is a reminder to us that Christ had to die for our sins (1 Corinthians 5:7, 15:3). The Days of Unleavened Bread pictures that we need to live sincerely and in truth (1 Corinthians 5:8). It lasts seven days (Exodus 12:15-20), which, like the weekly cycle, indicates a completion--we should strive to be completely without sin.

If you have kept the Days of Unleavened Bread, you better realize that leaven is pervasive in society--and hopefully, the spiritual lesson of the fact that sin pervades society has also been impressed on your mind so that even when these days are over, you realize that you need to watch out for sin and go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1). And if you did not keep the Days of Unleavened Bread you did not learn that as you should have.

Obeying God and living as God wants us to live girds our waists with truth and puts on the breastplate of righteousness.

As a reminder, the New Testament shows that salvation is tied in with obedience:

Yes, YOUR SALVATION IS TIED IN WITH OBEDIENCE. For those who think that the Sabbath day is not one of those matters of obedience should remind themselves that obedience related to Sabbath-keeping was discussed in the chapter preceding this one.

Be careful that you do not have your own improper rationalizations as to why you do not have to obey God in one or more aspects of your life.

Now lets look at something that the Apostle Paul wrote about how Christians should live:

Thiel B. Building Character: Going on to Perfection. http://www.cogwriter.com/perfect-character.htm 2014/2015/2017/2018/ 2021 0522